'Battlestar
Galactica' may be in for a fight on home planet (thanks Mike Martinez).
Seriously now. Those of us that recall this show seem to all remember it fondly,
but that doesn't mean that the cheese factor wasn't a little too high to
guarantee a true remake the kiss of death. I don't blame the producers at all
for altering the formula... If the original show was that good it would have
lasted for more than a single series.

The other episode you're talking about wasn't a movie, but sounds like "The Living Legend", where Cain, played by Lloyd Bridges, convinces Adama to stand against the Cylons. Cain's ship, the Pegasus, may or may not have been destroyed by the end of the show.

Ah, ok. Thanks Hollow Man. I only saw that episode once, and it was on German television. While I do speak German, one's ability to follow a foreign language at approximately 8 years old is rather limited. I'm quite sure it lasted for an hour and a half though, which is why I believed it was a movie, not a normal episode. Maybe it was a double episode that they just showed in one go.

Another thing I should point for anyone complaining about how much Bill Gates donates to charity... why don't you look into the numbers your favorite organized religion donates vs. collects in tithing.

Hmmm, that's funny... I've used a tax lawyer and I still paid pretty normal taxes. Maybe he was a bad one...

The "social contract" is leftist socialist propaganda I heard all about in college. It is directly at odds with capitalism. Bill Gates is NOT under ANY contract to return any money to society, nor is any person in this country.

If more people showed the kind of drive Mr. Gates has instead of whining about how "the rich" get tax breaks, we'd have more rich people.

"If you are a republican before age 18, you have no heart. If you are a democrat after age 18, you have no brains."

Government is to control the masses of a nation. When you have more money and more reach than said government, there's no reason you should pay taxes. I seriously doubt Bill Gates takes advantage of any of the services our taxes go towards, except maby a standing millitary. I'm sure he has his own security on a smaller level though, don't you people watch movies?

If I was in Bill Gates shoes, i'd make a rap video and use it to say, "haha suckers i've got the bills and i'm not giving them to you bitches!" and then buy its way to number one on TRL and laugh my ass off every time it played.

Well duh. Obviously I didn't mean he was legally required to donate anything except on a moral basis. They should b requird to tithe as they don't pay taxes.

And once again...no, they do not pay taxes. For the love of pete, believe me on this. If you don't believe me, feel free to talk to any tax lawyer and they'll happily illuminate you on that fact. There are 1000's upon 1000's of loopholes and tax havens out there specifically for this reason.

How else do you think 1% of the population controls 40% of its wealth? If you expand that to the top 5% it bcomes closer to 90% of the wealth.

This is why tax lawyers thrive in America.

Just to clarify about not paying taxes, to simplify, if you need/use a tax lawyer odds are you don't pay any (or absolute minimal) tax.This comment was edited on Jul 13, 22:59.

"And then, suddenly and without warning, it turned into a real-life case of hungry, hungry hippos."- Stephen Colbert

and technically, a tax break isn't getting something in return anyway... it's having to give the government less because you already gave to society of your own free will.

Well, actually you get two things. First of all, you get to decide where your money goes instead of the government deciding for you, and second, you get the benefit of being seen as a generous person, which tends to make others act more generously toward you.

Bunko was right that people were upset that BillG was the richest guy in the country and never gave anything to charity. When stuff like that started hitting the newspapers, Billy realized that it's bad for his image and bad for business, so he got right to it and started giving some money out. Granted, it was very modest amounts. Even people that are much less wealthy give relatively more than he does, but it helped his image quite a bit, so he definitely gained from it. Probably much more than it cost him too, judging by the tone of the articles about him before and after. You normally can't buy that kind of good press from so many places, and even if you could, it would cost more than he gave out.

I think Halsy is right that he most likely doesn't pay taxes anyway, so the tax break thing probably isn't even an issue. The IRS isn't quite as terrifying when you can throw more lawyers at them than they have on the payroll. Ask the Scientologists how scared they are of the IRS. They'll laugh their asses off

Supporter of the "a happy fredster is a wet fredster with jumper cables attached to his nads" fanclub.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell (I think...)

took that right out of the dictionary. there is no mention of "only if you don't get anything in return".

and technically, a tax break isn't getting something in return anyway... it's having to give the government less because you already gave to society of your own free will.

i do see your point though... of course you get *something* back for doing charity... even if it is as simple as getting a good feeling, or getting praise from family/friends. we live in a world of action/reaction. it just bothers me when people think that the rich only give to charity for the tax write-off. that's totally false. they always lose more money than they gain - so it is never an action of greed or for the benefit of the giver financially. there may or may not be other motives involved, and i don't care if there are... nothing is going to make me think that charity is in any way bad. and like i said before: if you could profit from charity, then everyone would be giving away everything all the time!

This comment was edited on Jul 13, 21:43.

- tron ----"tron is big and tron is full of action... it's a hell of a ride!"-from the Tron 2.0 box